I commented on Lisa's post over the weekend and my comment morphed into a mini-post, which prompted me to think: maybe I need to share this on my blog. Maybe I'll feel better if I sort things out through writing it in blog form. So, I interrupt the potentially funny Italy stories (I have a few) to share my daycare dilemma.
1st and foremost: everything is fine . . . I never dreamt when I started babysitting for one family that I'd end up making a decent income with a daycare. This year I babysat for NO SIBLINGS. I give a significant sibling discount, and it wasn't all bad to not take a pay cut for watching a small crowd.
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October '24. |
I don't anticipate next year being so lucrative (there will be siblings), and that's OK. I'm framing '25-'26 as a building year. A while back, I thought it would be amazing if I could make it to TEN YEARS. Well, here we are -my 10th year is winding down. I'm not planning to retire yet.
1. I can physically do the work (um, the 25 lb 9 mo. old Shrieker has caused my back to complain) and
2. I have the time. I've thought about quitting in order to maybe care for my mom if that need arises, but for now I'm sticking with it.
Why not retire? . . . . Aside from earning $ for college tuition, I'm crazy about a few of my new families. I hope to babysit for them until their kids are all school age. Then maybe I'll be ready to stop changing flipping diapers.
Here's how it's shaking out: I intentionally waited until after Italy to ask my people what their plan was for next year, so I didn't stress about it.
Do you want the same number of days? Different? Are you still planning to bring your little poop-heads to my house? (hee hee)
This year, I had 2 returning families, and 6 new families. That is a TON of new people. I'm exhausted thinking back on August when I welcomed/oriented 4 new families and then 2 more babies, one at Thanksgiving (the Shrieker) and one after Christmas (a pure delight). Phew.
Those leaving:
Peter: "Kate" teaches at our high school. Her son Peter was 2 in March, and started here at 5 mos. I find Kate to be wound tight and I sometimes feel like there's no pleasing her. She makes more requests than the other parents, like waking her son up from his nap to give him a snack before she arrives so she can avoid his grumpiness. I think the extra 20 minutes of sleep would do him good. The other guys wake up on their own or I wake them up when their parents arrive. Why not offer him a snack in her car? (this isn't really a huge deal).
In February Kate texted me one evening, "Is Peter's bib at your house?" Now, c'mon. My evenings are busy. If his bib isn't in his bag, then safe bet I left it on his high chair here. We need to text about this, or can we just say OH THERE IT IS in the morning? There were a few other instances that rank higher than this nit picky stuff, but those require a separate post.
Kate told me Thursday that he's not coming back. I had several dreams while in Italy that I had lost Peter, or that I let him sleep too long, etc. I told Coach, maybe Kate is stressing me out more than I realize.
Peter is adorbs and we're crazy about him. I'll miss having him. I never felt a connection with his mom, which is fine. I don't have to connect with someone to care for their kid, but I felt like this contributed to the feeling that she was never satisfied. She's sort of all business. Hey, some folks are like that.
Next year she's teaching part time, which I think is for the best. I think some of her issues are a reflection on her desire to stay home with her kid vs the care I'm offering.
She says her folks are helping with his care next year, but they can't do Fridays. So maybe that means she's taking him somewhere new since I don't do Fridays? It is HARD not to take this personally, but at the end of the day when he was in my care - he was truly loved and very happy. (he dies laughing at my lunchtime dance routines and my silly faces and my clowning. I suspect his mom doesn't have a silly side -and I'm not saying that's wrong, but he enjoyed the heck out of me). That said, it's like a kick to the gut. The 'I'm working part time' thing softens it. I need to remind myself that I really think this is more about her than it was me. She might have other stresses in her life that are in play.
The Shriek Guy: Shriek's mom, Maddie, "found someone closer to home" to watch him next year. 100% she's leaving because she's tired of me requesting that they determine what's wrong with their baby. He's over 9 mos now and he screams like he's in serious pain. I think I've pinpointed it to when he's about to poop. Once he's pooped, he's totally fine. Um, he poops multiple times a day. This isn't my first rodeo and I was unsure if I was gonna invite them back, because she just keeps saying that they don't see it at home. In other words they're not addressing it/she thinks I'm not taking good care of him, and that's why he's screaming?
He's not screaming because he's not happy at my house, and I'm not making it up. Reg is home often on a Monday morning and he's like MOM, WHAT IS THE DEAL? The other kids in my care struggle to function when the screaming is happening. It's THAT unsettling. I can walk with him, cuddle him, feed him, distract him, sing to him. Nothing helps. Praise the Lord he's only here Mon/Tues. 50 kids could show up here on Wednesday and it would feel like a cake walk. I'm considering telling her not to bother bringing him back these last few weeks of school. Just don't know if it's worth it for me to deal with his issues. But Tuesday rolls around and EVERY week, I think - maybe next week he'll be better.
Mini texted from Italy: Can't wait for the next caregiver to tell them there's something wrong with their troll baby. (It isn't his fault, but dang - it is exhausting, and Mini's text made me laugh).
BIG KIDS: Two 3 year olds are leaving to go to full time preschool in the fall. They're easy and they're like a little old married couple. I'll miss them, but I saw this coming. Allie said to Carter in the backseat of the van the other day when we were on our way to the library: We should talk about something. What do you want to talk about? ~ so cute.
Coming up: I'm gonna share the folks who are staying and more about the amazing new families who I can't quit on.
(this got long and I've been in Indianapolis all weekend watching Curly's team win all 5 of their AAU games and my brain is too tired to edit it down anymore. It was 3 games, but teams that win keep playing, yikes - that was not on my radar and we got home at 7 pm Sunday).
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Am I alone, or are there work related things or other times that you wish you didn't take things personally, but yet . . . it just happens?